Partial or Global Measures? Perspectives from Public Leisure Facility Managers

This paper addresses issues when implementing and evaluating performance measurement initiative. Applying action research, the study began with designing an innovative performance measurement system and applied the system in three public leisure centres in England during 2005–2007. It was found that, for practitioners in the public leisure sector, inclusiveness and simplicity are the most important criteria of a good performance measurement system. That is, not only does performance data need to be inclusive, the analytical process also needs to be simple and understandable. In addition, facility managers’ analytical skills and motivations for benchmarking are two factors determining the practicability of the system developed. Finally, while conducting a long-term action research, there is a need to continually communicate the actual and potential benefits of the change with senior managers. If they are committed and enthusiastic, it is easier to gain the support of other levels of the organisation.

This paper proposes data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a suitable data analysis tool to overcome facility management (FM) benchmarking difficulties: FM performance benchmarking analysis is often unsophisticated, relying heavily on simple statistical representation, linking hard cost data with soft customer satisfaction data is often problematic. A case study is presented to show that DEA can provide FM personnel with an objective view on performance improvements. An objective of the case study is to investigate the relative efficiency of nine facilities with the same goals and to determine the most efficient facility. The case is limited to nine buildings in FM on four inputs and nine output criteria. The paper concludes by demonstrating that DEA-generated improvement targets can be applied when formulating FM outsourcing policies, strategies and improvements. Facility manager can apply DEA-generated improvement targets in formulating FM outsourcing policies, specifications development, FM strategy and planning. FM benchmarking with DEA can enhance continuous improvement in service efficiency and cost saving. This will help reduce utility cost as well as pollution. This paper fills the gap in the research of FM benchmarking by applying DEA which studies both soft and hard data simultaneously. It also contributes to a future research of a trade-off sensitivity test between FM cost, services performance and reliability.

This paper is based on an exploratory case study analysis of the impact of quality management within the UK public leisure sector, with reference to the quality award Quest on a leisure centre. There is a continuing challenge within the UK public sector to meet the requirements of the Government's Best Value initiative. Many local authorities are attempting to address these challenges by applying organisational quality award models such as the Business Excellence Model. In the public leisure sector of the UK, the Quest model has been used as part of a scheme since 1998. Through surveys and indepth longitudinal case study, this paper analyses the effectiveness of the Quest award within the Northern Ireland (NI) context. It was found that the introduction of Quest led to improvements in employee and customer satisfaction along with improvement in performance measures.

There is a growing literature that employs nonparametric frontier methods in order to evaluate the performance of investment funds. This paper proposes an integrated approach for analyzing the efficiency and performance of mutual funds. The methodology combines data envelopment analysis (DEA) with a multicriteria decision aid methodology. DEA is employed to assess the relative efficiency of mutual funds in terms of their return, capital flow, gross expense ratio, turnover rate, and risk. In a second stage, a multicriteria approach is employed to develop an overall performance measure on the basis of the DEA efficiency results. The resulting model evaluates all mutual funds in a common basis and enables comparisons over time. The methodology is applied to a sample of more than 500 US equity mutual funds over the period 2003---2010. The analysis is implemented under three different time-window periods (one, three, and five year evaluations). The results obtained for portfolios constructed on the basis of our global performance measure, Sharpe ratio and Morningstar rating system are useful since they provide significant economic evidence in favor of our global performance measure. Our results entail practical implications for both investors and fund managers in terms of fund selection and efficient portfolio management respectively.

Combining ranking scales and selecting variables in the DEA context: The case of industrial branches

The persistent deterioration of public primary school infrastructure in Nigeria, especially in Ondo State, highlights the critical need for effective facilities management (FM) practices driven by competent personnel. Despite the growing recognition of the role of FM in educational outcomes, limited research exists on how facilities management competencies influence FM practices in public basic education. This study, therefore, assessed the effects of FM competencies on FM practices in public primary school buildings in Ondo State. A quantitative research design was employed, and Ondo State was chosen as the study area due to its socio-economic diversity and educational relevance. Structured questionnaires were distributed to 500 respondents, comprising end-users (teachers and school administrators) and professionals (facilities managers, architects, engineers, builders, and quantity surveyors). A total of 484 valid responses were retrieved, representing a 96.8% response rate. Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to determine the effect of FM competencies on FM practices. The findings indicated a statistically significant and positive relationship, facility management competencies and practices in the study area. influencing FM practices. The Human Resource Management (bHRM) construct emerged as the most impactful factor influencing the various dimensions of facilities management practices (β = 0.372; T = 6.087; p < 0.05). Indicator bHRM 2, which focuses on ensuring adequate staffing for effective facilities management, was found to be the most influential in improving practices such as asset management (eAM), budget allocation (eBA), maintenance practices (eMP), and space planning (eSP). The study concludes that strengthening FM competencies, especially in human resource and stakeholder engagement, is essential for improving FM implementation in public primary schools. It recommends the government and relevant education authorities prioritize the recruitment, training, and retention of qualified FM personnel. Establishing comprehensive training programs and clear career pathways for FM staff will ensure that schools have the human capacity needed to implement effective FM practices. The study contributes to knowledge by offering empirical evidence on the role of FM competencies in shaping FM practices in Nigeria’s public primary education sector and adapting global FM frameworks to localised, resource constrained environments.

Revenue management (RM) deals with selling the right product to the right customer at the right time at the right price through the right channel to maximise revenue. The innovation of RM lies in the way decisions are made. The performance of revenue management approaches can be evalu- ated against several criteria. Both discrete and continuous multicriteria models can be used to analyse RM. The performance pyramid is a comprehensive, fully integrated per- performance system that captures multiple perspectives such as internal, financial, customer and innovation. The assessment is based on a combina- tion of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approaches. Customer behavior modeling is gaining increasing attention in revenue management. Customer choice models can be extended with more inputs and more outputs. Evaluation of alternatives can be performed using DEA- based evaluation methods. The search for an efficient frontier in a DEA model can be formulated as a multiobjective linear programming problem. We propose to use an Aspiration Level Oriented Procedure (ALOP) to solve the problem. Keywords: revenue management, performance measurement, multiple criteria, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Analytic Network Process (ANP), Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), customer behavior, efficient frontier, Aspiration Level Oriented Procedure (ALOP)

The customer is the ultimate judge of the adequacy of public sector leisure provision. In this environment are leisure services provided that customers actually want or does the public sector merely produce what they think their customers want? Moreover, to what extent are the preferences of customers included in the decision-making process in determining the provision of leisure services? To address these and other issues the views of chief leisure officers working in local authorities within the UK have been investigated. This paper presents some of the results of a quantitative survey concerning their attitudes towards customer orientation.

Sustainability is seen as a far-reaching issue now, and one which the facilities management [FM] profession cannot overlook. This paper explores current sustainable facilities management [SFM] knowledge and practice with specific focus on performance as part of a research focus toward proposing a sustainable FM performance management framework for sustainable healthcare waste management in Malaysia. This paper utilized a review of extant literature on the subject of SFM, FM performance and FM development in Malaysia as source of information. Findings reflect the increasing recognition of the need for the strategic FM function, and how facilities managers are best positioned to drive organizations’ sustainability agendas. In Malaysian context, this recognition is barely evident as findings show FM practice is still immature and predominantly operational. Unlike developed FM markets, FM relevance in Malaysia is being driven by the public sector. Also findings show a disharmony between organizations’ sustainability priority areas and the responsibilities for facilities managers to execute them where the sustainability policy of organizations prioritize one FM service and the facilities managers’ responsibilities prioritize another. As most of SFM implementation is driven by legislation this seems to strengthen the position that, organizations continue to view support services as non-value-adding, as unavoidable liabilities. The implication of this is the pressure on the FM function to continually express its strategic relevance to organizations by tangible value-adding performance output. This creates a new perspective to measuring and managing facilities performance. This paper therefore elevates the importance of FM performance management in SFM context taking into account the peculiar position of the facilities manager. This is seen as a way forward for FM to better express its value to the organization

Post-occupancy evaluation data on both building performance and occupant comfort can be useful for facility operation and management, and for workspace design but are rarely used in practice due to challenges and research gaps in data collection and analysis. We argue that with the growth of mobile and pervasive computing capabilities, future space design and building management will be based on real-time feedback loops of building performance data—qualitative and quantitative—available through the cloud, at stakeholders’ fingertips. We have developed a live, cloud-based system to begin contextualizing fragmented big data sets as evidence to support improvement of workspace management and design, and this paper presents the development process. The proposed system has three functions: data collection, processing, and reporting. A wireless sensor network collects physical environmental data which are then posted to a cloud-hosted server. A smart device-administered survey collects occupants’ perception data. Thermal comfort principles, as well as HCI (human–computer interaction) development guidelines and design principles, were followed during development of the app, which was then rigorously tested. The time-stamped survey data are synchronized with environmental data captured by relevant sensors. Pilot data collection is ongoing, as is the correlation analysis of the two data sets used to validate the process. The real-time reasoning and report generation features, supplemented with additional data, will be beneficial to space design, and to facility operation and management. This holistic system is expected to provide a powerful and practical tool for both designers and facility managers.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the problems that different public sector bodies' face in joint planning to develop and share facilities and property services and how they have overcome some of them. It examines those difficulties that remain outstanding as the public sector strives to meet changing demands on its services and public expectations within limited resources. It is designed to help facilities managers facing similar problems and to stimulate researchers to investigate some of the outstanding issues.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines the history of the North East of Scotland Public Sector Property Group (NESPSPG) since its inception in 2001 and examines its successes and its outstanding problems as a case study for the wider “Efficient Government” agenda.FindingsThe NESPSPG has been innovative and successful in addressing a number of difficult facilities management (FM) problems. There are some problems that are less tractable and require assistance and reform outside the control of the constituent members of the group if more progress is to continue and the “Efficient Government” agenda may provide some of the solutions.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper presents recent historic material describing the NESPSPG projects to help in identifying issues that need consideration by the FM profession. It sustains the debate between FM practitioners, central and local government policy‐makers and academic researchers on the efficient collaborative use of public sector assets in Scotland's public sector.Originality/valueThe paper is a viewpoint paper and an exposition of a practical case study illustrating the problems faced by public sector facilities managers in a particular locality and considers how this sheds light on wider FM issues of collaborative working.

PurposeThis study sets out to introduce an innovative performance measurement system (PMS) for business process outsourcing in facility management (FM) industry and analyse, comprehend and explain the main criticalities in the relationship among the actors involved in an outsourcing non core services contract, which is typical of the FM business sector. The aim of the tool is to improve performances and enhance their integration towards a partnership.Design/methodology/approachA case study research has been carried out on a medical service authority and on its FM service provider in order to investigate, understand and explain the main criticalities in their relationships. Starting from a literature analysis on empirical applications of PMS, an adaptation of a balanced scorecard (BSC) has been realized to exceed the criticalities of the case study and to propose a PMS for facility management.FindingsAs highlighted in the case study, the need for an improved actors' partnership has been fulfilled through an innovative approach, i.e. a performance measurement system which shares some indicators among FM service provider and customer.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this research lies in the fact that PMS has been designed from a single case study. Despite this fact, the PMS can be easily adapted for wide applications inside the FM business sector.Practical implicationsThe PMS allows a better integration and coordination of the actors involved in an outsourcing services contract. It could be implemented in FM software tools.Originality/valueThe proposed performance measurement system is an innovative integration between the balanced scorecard and service balanced scorecard (SBC) for the facility management service industry. Furthermore, it shares some indicators which solve the main criticalities in the relationships among the actors involved in an outsourcing services contract and enhance partnership.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe how healthy performance of facilities can be monitored and performance data delivered as information flow according to specific user groups' needs.Design/methodology/approachThe context of performance in facilities is described, and a tool for the collection of performance data and communicating the data as relevant information for the facility management (FM) and other stake holders is developed.FindingsVarious user groups are utilizing the same performance data to ensure optimal and healthy conditions. The integration of performance data to deliver meaningful and exploitable results for each user requires collection of the relevant data, compilation of data into information, and delivery of user specific information to the correct instance. A performance sensing system with data management was developed into a FM tool for this purpose.Practical implicationsFM is enabled to real time decision making by sensor‐based performance monitoring.Originality/valueThe results are generic and FM tools may be built on this basis for the specific information and display needs of various FM professionals and other stakeholders.

Both the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) and its embedded technology diffusion exponentially progress and grow in terms of technical change and socioeconomic impact. The aim of this study was the evaluation of research and development efficiency in the public and private sectors in EU countries. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology, within which the slack-based model was applied, was used to achieve this aim. The Malmquist index (MI) was used to calculate changes in research and development efficiency during 2010/2013 and 2014/2017. The results present a decrease in total Research and Development (R&D) productivity in public and private sectors for an average of EU countries (28). However, Spain, Slovenia, and Portugal (in the public sector), and Ireland and Romania (in the private sector) revealed an increase of a total R&D productivity during 2010/2013 and 2014/2017 that was primarily influenced by an increase of technical efficiency (catch-up effect). Similarly, the results confirm the differences in R&D efficiency in private and public sectors in the European countries. The study’s results also provide a valuable platform for creators of national strategic and innovative investment and educational plans, and creators of relevant policies and create a platform for national and international benchmarking indicators.

Facilities managers in the National Department of Public Works (NDPW) have to manage one of the biggest property portfolios in South Africa. This requires a systematic approach to ensure that taxpayers’ monies are not wasted. Research was conducted to determine whether the required policies and expertise are in place or whether there is a need for a transformation strategy in the public sector relating to facilities management. Primary data was collected by means of questionnaires to regional, property and facilities managers in the NDPW. Secondary data was obtained from the literature reviewed in relevant publications. The main findings were that more than half of facilities managers are inexperienced, information management systems are not used extensively and that there is a need for the appointment of properly trained facilities managers in the NDPW.